Chinese novelist jailed for 10 years

Books
Books (photo: Pixabay)
By Faith MagbanuaNovember 20th, 2018

A Chinese writer has been given a 10 year sentence for writing and selling a novel which featured scenes of homosexuality.

The writer, only identified as Liu, was jailed by a court in Anhui province last month for manufacturing and selling what is called as a "obscene material".

Her novel, titled "Occupation", featured a homosexual behavior which then includes perverted sexual acts like violence and abuse.

According to the Beijing News, Liu - better known by her online alias Tian Yi - has now filed an appeal to the court.

It was on the 31st of October 2018, when Liu was sentenced to jail by the People's Court of Wuhu according to local news site Wuhu news. However, details of the hearing only emerged on Chinese media outlets this week.

Meanwhile, the police officials were first alerted to her novel after it started to gain popularity online.

Liu is said to have sold over 7,000 copies of "Occupation" and other erotic novels and made 150,000 yuan ($21,604, £16,782) in profit, reported state news outlet the Global Times.

But many social media users argued that the sentence she received - 10 years imprisonment - was disproportionate.

"10 years for a novel? That's too much," said one social media user on Weibo.

Another referenced an incident in 2013, where a former official was sentenced to eight years in prison for raping a four-year-old girl.

"Those found guilty of rape get less than 10 years in jail. This writer gets 10 years," another Weibo user added.

Pornography in China

Pornography has long been illegal in China. But, in the recent years, the Communist Party has intensified efforts to clear away what it sees as inappropriate content, introducing new legislation, rewards and punishments to help its aims.

Authorities on Saturday launched a campaign to "eradicate pornography and illegal publications" by offering heightened rewards of up to 600,000 yuan for reporting banned content to the police, starting from December.

In April, Weibo announced a decision to remove pornographic, violent or gay content, singling out manga animations that often depict raunchy gay male relationships, but then reversed its decision after widespread criticism.

 

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